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The contestant is given ten chances in which to guess the prices of three prizes, including a car, beginning with the least expensive. They are shown three digits, two of which are in the price of the first prize. The contestant writes their guess on the first of ten cards. If they are correct, the price is revealed, and they move on to the next prize. If they are not, they must write another price on the second card, and so on until they are correct.

For the second prize, the contestant is shown four digits, three of which are in the correct price. Play continues as with the first prize until they correctly guess the price. Finally, the contestant is shown five digits, all of which are in the price of the car. Again, they must write down the correct price with whatever chances they have left.

If the contestant has used all of their ten chances and has not correctly written the price of the car, they win any prizes that they have correctly priced to that point.

The player is guaranteed to win at least the first prize because there are only 4 different combinations to try.

Ten Chances was originally played for four-digit cars, and five digits were given, with one unused digit.

Originally, the correct price for each prize was revealed on a red card, just like the card for the available digits; this was quickly changed to blue on November 26, 1975 (#1693D) to differentiate.

On March 13, 1991 (#7953D), Ten Chances began offering a 5-digit car for the first time and the game never offered any cars less than $10,000 again. Contestants must now use all five numbers provided for the car to make its price.

On November 1, 2000 (#1563K), the price of the first prize was prematurely revealed, as well as the second, and even the third; this resulted in a technical win.

On January 27, 2004 (#2782K), new buttons are introduced in Ten Chances after the original ones cease to function. The numbers are displayed below the buttons, which are identical to the one on the Split Decision board. the big red numbered buttons that are pushed to indicate a right or wrong guess were changed to smaller buttons with the numbers below.

When the new color scheme was introduced on September 23, 2010 (#5234K), the jumbled digits are on a blue card and the correct price is on a green card. During that time, the buttons are lit in yellow, and turn off when pressed for wrong answers, but stay on when correct. In addition, the word "Ten" in the game's name was changed to a number 10.

An unwritten rule since the early 1980s is that the prices of all prizes end in 0, except in the rare case that 0 is not one of the provided choices, in which case the last number is always 5. Many contestants do not take this rule into account, even after seeing the first two correct prices. Though Bob and Drew never disclose this rule, they will try to steer contestants away from guesses that don't end in zero. In addition, contestants often attempt to use the same digit more than once in the same price. A contestant attempting to do so is usually corrected and allowed to rewrite an acceptable price. (However, foreign versions most likely do not use the 0/5 rule.)

Ten Chances originally had a 10-second time limit for each guess. While the rule has not actually been enforced since the early 1980s, the game is one in which contestants often take a long time to consult with the audience and host Bob Barker often chided contestants that they would lose a turn if they did not start writing.

When the zero digit rule is played correctly, this is the easiest car game to win on the show. But, in any case, contestants are guaranteed to win the first two prizes, and have a minimum of two guesses at the car.

In his final years hosting, Bob used the game as a barometer of a contestant's knowledge of the show and of pricing items. He would be visibly distraught or frustrated if they seemed clueless of either.

On May 1, 2006 (#3601K), contestant Joy made history, while playing this game. She was down to three chances, while going for the car. With choices of numbers, such as "3, 1, 0, 2, and 9", she writes down a price. On her first chance, she "used the '1' twice", and was told not to do that. Then she tries again and writes down a weird price of $19,130, leaving the second "1" scribbled out. Bob couldn't understand the price, after he told her not to write the "1" twice. Joy then scribbles the whole price, to avoid confusion. She later writes down a logical price of $19,302, which was the wrong price. Bob was getting frustrated of this and reminded her that, she would "lose her turn, if she didn't write". On Joy's second chance, she, at first, writes a "1" and a "3", but changes the "3" to a "9". She writes the "1" again, but changes that to a "2". She later writes down a crazy price of $19,213. Despite that she changed the second "1" to a "0", Joy tries again, and at first she writes a "1", "3", changed to "9", "2", and "1" (Bob kept reminding her about using the "1" twice, while the audience kept shouting "21!", multiple times), but scribbles it out. She writes down another crazy price of $19,021, which leaves Bob exhausted, by telling her again not to use the "1" twice. At this point, Bob is left to tell her which numbers are left, after she writes any two numbers down. She writes down a much better price of $19,320, which was once again the wrong price. Joy was now down to her final chance of winning the car and the game. She writes down a "2", then a "1", and then "3, 9, 0", making the price $21,390. And all of a sudden, it turned out to be the right price of the car. Bob exhaustively sits down mouthing out "I can't believe it!" and was at a loss of words of what to say, about the whole experience. With that, Bob respectfully takes the show to a commercial break.

On April 10, 2014 (#6694K), the second prize card dropped by accident, revealing the price of the karaoke machine, thus technically winning the karaoke machine.

On March 19, 2014 (#6663K, aired out of order on June 24, originally rescheduled to air on June 27), a new reveal was introduced; the first two prizes were shown by Door #3, and the car was revealed behind Door #3 afterwards. Although on October 15, 2014 (#6843K, aired out of order on October 17), April 6, 2015 (#7081K, aired out of order on March 2), May 6, 2015 (#7123K, aired out of order on May 5), March 9, 2016 (#7443K), and May 26, 2016 (#7554K), it used the original reveal.

On March 12, 2015 (#7044K), the already revealed price for the second prize was moved along with the car as the car was supposed to move on his last chance (he had won the second prize on his 8th).

On March 9, 2016 (#7443K), after not getting the second prize right on the 9th chance, the actual price was prematurely revealed, and so the contestant was awarded the prize.

Ten Chances has never been the first game to be played in the game slotting list.

On the UK versions hosted by both Leslie Crowther and Bob Warman, Ten Chances offered two two-digit prizes and a three-digit prize. In the latter version, as well as the Mexican version titled Atinale Al Precio, wipe-off markerboards were used instead of cards. Also, foreign versions of the game may not have the "zero rule" that the US version has.